Last week I told you I had two Sunday school classes in a row, and the topic I chose for them is a book by Chris Lungard entitled, The Enemy Within, subtitle, Straight Talk About the Power and Defeat of Sin. In the preface, Lungard spoke about his own battles with his own personal indwelling sin. and how he was pushed to take old John Owen, one of the Puritans he had been exposed to in seminary, and to blow off the dust of the old volume and begin to work through his treatises on indwelling sin and the mortification of sin. And he found it to be tough, tough, tough plowing, but still he found there to be gold that he was able to unearth. And so he took old John Owen and modernized him for the contemporary ear, and thus we have this book called The Enemy Within. And in this book he deals with a topic of great importance. He spoke saying, if God has redeemed me from my sin, this was his own soul travail, and given me his Holy Spirit to sanctify me, and give me strength against sin, then why do I go on sinning? And the concern that haunted him was, maybe it's just because I'm not a Christian at all. Because if I were really a Christian, would I have this evil still lurking within? And he spoke about how even at his best moments this would haunt him and give him difficulties and burnish the edges of his joy. This is a reality. I look again at our congregation here and people to whom I've spoken about how is your spiritual life and talk to me about your sense of assurance and what kind of struggles are you enjoying or encountering in your life. And all of us know All of us know that there is an enemy within. And he speaks about, just by way of review, how he had that enemy exposed when he was fixing his refrigerator and he thought he could finish the project. and the freezer door and the refrigerator door were off. He was trying to switch the hinges from one side to the other and the meat was spoiling in the process and he needed a wrench, a torx wrench that he didn't have and inside he was so angry and the pressure built up and his boys began to display their sibling rivalry and he just bloated like a volcano and poured hot lava of anger and rage all over his sons. He was a Mr. Hyde type monster to his children, whereas previously he had been a well-controlled pastoral Dr. Jekyll. Where does that come from inside of me, this monstrous enemy within? And he turned us to Romans 7, please turn there, Romans 7, 21. So, I find this law at work. When I would do good, there is evil with me. And this whole battle of Romans chapter 7, he says, I think rightly so, and echoing Owen, describes the battle with the enemy within. And so I want to move forward having reviewed to deal with two chapters, chapter three and chapter four. Chapter three is entitled The Haunted House. He opens a chapter in a colorful way describing two youngsters outside of an old ramshackle broken down Victorian mansion in the community that's been allowed to get overgrown and fall into disrepair and it's noted as the haunted house. And there it is, late at night, and they stand. I'll go in if you'll go in. Well, I don't want to go in. My parents told me I'm not supposed to go in. Oh, what's the matter with you? Are you afraid? Okay, I'll go in. And they decide that they're going to enter into the house. And they pass through a broken window and they stand there at the front. They see the staircase going up and they begin to go into the catacombs of the home. And he reads this way, or better, under the stairs, they find a secret passage that leads to what looks to be an abandoned laboratory. And on a slab, there is a cloth covering a body. Fools that they are, our heroes pull back the cover. A disfigured face that makes them jump, but it is still. Its eyes are closed. They turn to go and we the observers relax. But then the creature rises and nabs them from behind. The haunted house scares us because it hides something unknown and deadly. It has countless coat closets, cabinets, false walls, trap doors, attics, basements, corners, and shadows where the monster lies in wait, licking its chops. Then he goes on to say, and you, you have a haunted house as well in your life. And he says, that haunted house is your heart. Lurking in your heart is this diabolical monster that sometimes breaks out in your life and causes all kinds of troubles and an unsettled feeling. He's describing that enemy within and how he haunts our days. That's the horror story. Then he goes on to describe the haunted heart. Matt, could you please turn to Jeremiah 17? Jeremiah 17 and read for us verses 9 and 10. Just speaking about the nature of our heart may seem like an innocent address in our soul, but it is haunting. There's a problem there. Matt, could you read for us? The heart is a very deceitful thing. Even the heart, as described in Romans 7, of a born-again believer. We can't have a Pollyanna view of what a Christian is. Sometimes that's the problem in our lives and why we struggle so badly with indwelling sin, not handling it properly. He goes on to say, computers can't decipher a heart's floor plan. We modestly admit we don't know someone else's heart, but the truth is we can't even know our own. Do you always know why you choose chocolate or vanilla? Why one day your passions sizzle and another day you're like a dead leaf in the wind? Can you number all the events and images that impress your heart and make it lean this way or that way? Haven't you been surprised by the insincerity and even the intrigue that you found inside of your own heart? Do you doubt it? Think of how fickle you are. One day you're a sage, the next day you're a clown. You can be open and cheery, or reserved and gloomy. You can be easy to get along with, or a real crank. You can be a romantic to your spouse at one time, or you can be frosty cold at another time. One day Jesus is all the world to you, and the next, the love of the world makes you love it more than King Midas loved the world. Can you relate to that? The intrigues of the heart? And think of your inconsistencies. Your mind says, tithing is right. and your will puts the money into the plate, but all the while you wish God weren't so demanding. What is that? What is that within? Or you know that secret communion with God is a feast for your soul and you long for it, but you can't roll out of bed. Or if you do, your mind zooms everywhere in the universe except to heaven. Your mind knows that lust is evil and dangerous, but you put yourself to sleep at night imagining a weekend in Monterey with a hunk who lives just two apartments down. You say, why do you read that stuff, Pastor Jansky? That's really filthy stuff. That's a stench. But it's a reality, isn't it? regarding the enemy within, and these kinds of comments that you have about that haunted heart. Anyone? Somebody said last week, Professor Chansky, we didn't comment that much, but don't treat that as disinterest. We just really don't want to reveal publicly too much about ourselves, but we can really relate to this. Rick? I think if we were honest with ourselves, we would rarely judge another person for a wicked deed, a wicked thought. Since we would rarely what? For the depth of the wickedness and the wickedness of being. We're totally honest with ourselves. Yeah, I just think here as a pastor responsible for your souls, I don't want anyone, may the Spirit of God be a sharpshooter here. The danger in talking about something like this is somebody saying, oh yeah, all these evil things, yeah, I can relate to that, and I love evil, and that person may be no Christian at all, living on the broad road, the broad road that leads to destruction. But on the other hand, There are true believers, true sincere believers born again by the Spirit of God who have this battle within. And it's that battle, again I go back to the statement by J.C. Ryle who says, a Christian is not only known by his inward peace, but he's also known by his inward warfare. And so these ugly things, they are realities, even in the lives of true believers. Any more comment or input before we go further? Just moving ahead then to the question, what is this heart? He speaks about what the heart is. Heart is used in different ways in the Bible. Sometimes it's the mind, believing or being enlightened, such in Romans 10.10. The will is part of the heart, that which decides or acts. The affections, one's feelings, that's also a dimension of the heart. Hebrews 4.12 The heart there thinks and feels. The Word of God is living, active, sharp as a two-edged sword, piercing the division of joint and marrow, judging the thoughts and intentions of the heart. The best way to think of your heart, he says, is that it comprises your thoughts, your plans, your judgments, your discernment, that's the mind. Your choices and actions, the will. Your longings, desire, revulsion, imagination, your feelings, that's the affections. Your sense of right and wrong, which approves or condemns your mind, that's the will and the affections, the conscience. Now, you may ask the question, but isn't it true that Christians are given a new heart? That's the promise of the covenant of peace in Ezekiel 36, 26. Make a covenant of peace with you. I will give you a new heart. and I will make you to want to obey my commandments." Isn't that true? Well, that is true. We are given a new heart. But we have to realize that though as a believer the heart is new, the heart isn't yet finished. And it's a battle that's taking place. Even in Israel, when David became king, it speaks of how David is crowned as king. It says the house of David grew stronger and the house of Saul grew weaker. But it didn't remove the house of Saul and its influence from the nation of Israel. there was the continual biting at the heels and the fighting and the guerrilla warfare. And that's what takes place still, even in the renewed heart. 1 John 3, 2 says, When we see Him, we will be like Him and see Him as He is. For we see now, 1 Corinthians 13, through but a glass dimly, then we shall see clearly face to face. But not yet. We're still being, Romans 8, 29, conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're not done yet. We will soon be like Him. We'll be changed, 1 Corinthians 15, at glorification. So we have a new heart, but we need to understand that the battle is not finished. Comments on this. What is the heart? John. We bought a new home. So you had one built? No. It's a new home for us. So the difference would be a brand new home with everything that works perfectly, with everything that has a warranty for the next 10 years. It's this perfect home. versus when we bought a new home. It's new, but it's going to take some work. We're going to start renovating the kitchen, and then we're going to work out to the living room, and then we're going to work on the bedroom. Just that analogy of, yes, it's a new heart, and it's a new heart with a new view. It's a new view. It's an eternal view. It's got windows facing the right direction. But yet, it's not that perfect home yet. Because that perfect home, we won't get to. until we get to the new mansion in glory. As long as we're on this earth, we're going to live in, these are new hearts. They're new homes with new perspectives and new windows, but we're still going to be taking out the old. There's going to be some rotten wood. We're going to find these things that, oh my goodness, why did they do it this way? We're going to have to change this and change that. But it's got a new view. And the windows face north. They face heaven. The other thought to add to that is, it's questionable how we glorify God. And to me it's, we glorify God, yes we do it here on Sunday when we sing, but we glorify God when we make choices for Him. And that new heart has that hope and that desire, that facing toward God. So we glorify Him in those choices, and that brings glory to Him because we're not robots. We're not perfect. If we were perfect, there would be, in a sense, less glory, because we would do it automatically. But when we say, Lord, help me, and he helps us to make that choice, that's when the unbeliever looks on and says, there's something different there. And that brings glory to God, because we're making choices. that are consistent with that heavenly view and the way those windows face. The roof leaks, basement takes in water, the toilets don't flush the way that they ought to, and the air conditioner doesn't cool. But it's a new house for us. And this shouldn't be a thing of discouragement. This is really, to me, this is, reading him is hope. Hope. hope that my experience is the Christian experience. He goes on regarding what is the heart to advantage flesh. He speaks about that 1st Galatians 5.17, the flesh lusts after the spirit, that is the spirit of God within. And the spirit lusts after the flesh. And there's this battle going on. But with this battle, he speaks about how cunning the flesh can be. He says, how would you like to fight an enemy who, just when you had him on the ropes, could duck into a cave or a tunnel where you couldn't follow? An enemy you could hide just out of reach, letting you rest long enough to think that he was gone for good, then out of nowhere he jumps on your back. This reminds me of The Dawn Treader in Chronicles of Narnia. They reach an island where there are these certain individuals called, I'm told by my son, the Dufflepods. And the thing about them is they're invisible. They can appear now and then, but they're invisible and you try to fight them. This is the craftiness of our enemy. It lurks in an unsearchable and deceitful fortress where you can't find your enemy sometimes. It says this, Have you ever battled some lust, prayed and fasted and sought counsel against it? Then watch it slink away into the night. Ever fasting and praying against some sin? You try it! You try it! In the way that a time of prayer and fasting can give a great season of prosperity. He says, you thought you had it licked, you thought you could move on in your spiritual life, but one day you're watching television and a commercial for Calvin Klein jeans bubbled up a whole nest of wicked desires. Sin can be like that, that trick birthday candles, when you blow them out and you smile and you think you have your wish, but then your jaw drops as they burst again into flames. Is that true? That advantage flesh, the craftiness? Any comments about that? Rick? certain temptations away. Now I think I'm starting to glory in them because they remind me that I need the cross. If I need the cross, I need the saving power of the Lord Jesus Christ. So I can see His reason for leaving in my life. They do continue to cause us to sing the hymn. Alleluia, all I have is Christ. Alleluia, Jesus is my life. It keeps us right there, doesn't it? Clinging to the cross of the Lord. Nothing in my hands I bring. Nothing. Only to thy cross I cling. This is the one I esteem. He was humble and contrite. Sin even worked Thomas Watson has his book, All Things for Good. He has a few pages where he argues even sin works for good and for that very reason. It keeps us clinging to the Lord Jesus Christ. This idea of advantage, flesh, He talks about David, the man after God's own heart. There he is, he's settled his kingdom, all is well. And when kings would go off to war, 2 Samuel 11 there, as he's on the rooftop, sin jumps on his back and takes him down into a season of great backsliding, Bathsheba, Uriah, It says, if you violently war against your flesh, you'll win ground, it will grow weak, and you will grow in grace into the image of Christ. Still, the work has to be endless, as long as we're in this world. If you cut the flesh any slack, you'll watch it regroup, and you'll watch it revive. And a striking text is that 1 Peter 2.11 texts, Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against your soul. You can't say, I've licked, I've triumphed, I've trampled and I'm going to go off and turn your back. You can't turn your back on it. Rises up again. That's the theme of advantaged flesh. It's a haunted house and don't think it's ever going to be exorcised until the day of glorification. But then he goes on to speak of advantage believer. This is as endless and complicated as this war is. Believers rush in with confidence because the Holy Spirit takes the horror out of the horror show. We're not fighting this alone. He says, we don't know our hearts, so deceitful and all the catacombs and all of the corners and the attics and the basements and the pantries. He says, but the Holy Spirit does know them. He likened us to the Holy Spirit as this torch-bearing guide who leads us through this battle and can show us and can help us. He refers to Psalm 139, Search me, O God, know my heart. Test me, O God, know my anxious thoughts. See if there be any hurtful or evil or malicious way in me and lead me in the way everlasting. When you think of that passage in Galatians 5.17, the flesh lusts after the Spirit. It's capital S. The Spirit of God is in this battle. The Spirit of God is our great captain who leads us in the fight. Just like Joshua had to go into the land of Canaan and he had to conquer the land, The Lord says, I will go, I'll be with you. The Lord and His hosts were with Him for this bed. The Lord is with us. And this is Advantage Believer. Any comments on that? It's a battle within, but we're not alone. You can't relate to this, can you? Matt. You mentioned David Warren and the House of Saul. taking great encouragement. At one point when I discovered, I've read it a number of times, but David, he was anointed king, and then he's hunted down by Saul. Even after he's anointed, could he be there in a cave or in the woods? Didn't you anoint the king? What am I doing here? I thought I was supposed to be king. And I'm in the woods, hiding. And he finally does become king. And then there's only a couple of lines of text. But seven years, he fights with the house of Saul before he's king over all of Israel in Jerusalem. And it just kind of mentions in passing that seven years. So for seven years, he's fighting wars to claim the crown that years ago, Samuel anointed him to be king. And he's still, years later, still fighting just to take over. irreconcilable distinction. What you say, it reminds me of this text in 1 Peter 2. For you, he's talking the church, for you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of God's own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. For you were once not a people, now you are the people of God. But the very next verse says, I mean, that's glorious. I'm a royal priesthood. I'm a priest. I'm a son of the king. But the very next verse says, Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against your soul. There it is. I'm a royal son, but I'm also someone who's engaged in this trench warfare. Oh, Seth, did you have your hand up? Max said, there's a good point about David and being a noisy king, but not having rule. But then after he did rule over the kingdom, there came from within his own house, Absalom. And that was a huge struggle. It looked like he was going to lose that battle. Just how much did that come back, as you say, and just hauntlessly jump on our backs, out of our own lives. Yeah, and then you think of the promise of the new heavens and the new earth, and that term is the land, the land, and we will look to the right, we will look for the wicked, we will find them no more. They won't be seen, we won't battle anymore with the world and the flesh and the devil. Let's go on then to chapter 3, excuse me, chapter 4, which is irreconcilable differences, irreconcilable differences. He opens this chapter, moving on with the same theme about describing this enemy within in the battle, and he talks about certain literary smoldering hatreds. Shakespeare has his Merchant of Venice, where there's a man named Shylock. What's Shylock after? What's he after, Seth? He's after that pound of flesh. because he is obsessed with someone who has wronged him. He hates someone. And then in Les Miserables, there's a villain who just wants to get someone. Who's that? Anyone know? Javert. He wants Jean Valjean, right? He's just obsessed with him. And the third one that he refers to is Moby Dick. Okay, what's the obsession in Moby Dick? Can anyone tell us? Anyone who's literarily educated? Anyone? What's going on in Moby Dick? Someone's obsessed with something. Some Sith. Why? Why? So he's walking around with a peg leg. I read that the peg leg is actually a sperm whale's jaw bone. That's the peg leg. And he hates this Moby Dick, this huge white sperm whale that took his leg and sunk his ship and brought havoc to his life. And he is obsessed with killing because he hates, he hates, he hates Moby Dick. And his whole life is obsessed, that's the whole problem with Ishmael, right? Who is the observing sailor on the ship and he watches Ahab and Ahab is just a madman full of hatred. And Lungard says that, if you want to use the analogy or the allegory, he says, Moby Dick is God, in a sense. And the hatred for God is the sinner, the sinner. And he says, okay, the hatred for God, he says, actually, the real Ahab is us. We're born, we're born. like Ahab and we hate, not Moab, but we hate God. And we detest God because God tries to rule over life and we would kill God if we could. And the reality is that we, who were born Ahabs, are made into new men and new women. We're a new man, put off the old man, put on the new man. We're a new man in Christ Jesus. But the problem with us being a new man, we're justified. The righteousness of Christ is ours in heaven. We're justified. Our slate is clean and we're standing before God in heaven. And we have this new heart. But the problem is, there is still this smoldering hatred that remains in our hearts. Not who we are anymore, but there is this smoldering hatred, the flesh. the flesh that is still in our heart, the flesh that still hates God. He refers to Romans 6 and verse 6, knowing that our old man was crucified with Him, that our body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin. We're a new man, justified, righteousness in heaven. We're being sanctified, the Spirit of God within us. But there's still this Ahab-like hatred of God that still has quarter in our hearts. It's like the way Bunyan describes it in his story, The Holy War. You know of his story, Pilgrim's Progress, but The Holy War is this city of man-soul, Prince Emmanuel comes in and he takes the city, he reigns in the city, and he throws out the enemies, but still, back in the alleys and hidden in some of the basements are who? The Diabolonians. That's indwelling sin. And there is still this Ahab-like hatred against God that smolders in our hearts, he says. And he says that there is an impossible peace between the flesh and God. The flesh hates God. Romans 8.7, he says this, The carnal mind is enmity against God. It is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can it be. And 724, Paul aches about this battle. A wretched man that I am, who will rescue me from this body of death? He says, the spirit conquers the flesh, weakens the flesh, mortally wounds the flesh, so that we are no longer Ahab's by nature, yet Ahab's defiant malice are flesh hatred against God still smolders in our flesh. And so he says, by the time Paul wrote Romans, he must have been as Christ-like as anyone can expect on this side of heaven. And he surely spent his days putting his flesh to death, but still he cried out for deliverance from this irreconcilable enemy. What a wretched man am I. Who will rescue me? So that's that impossible peace. Any comments on that? He goes on to speak about enemy enough and he describes how the enemy works in our lives in very practical ways. He says this, so which is easier to sit with a bucket of butter soaked popcorn and watch Tom Cruise on the big screen for a few hours or kneel and pray for five minutes? Does the flesh rage against the former? No. But you try to do the latter, and there's something that rises up within. I must not be a Christian. How could I be a Christian? If I could do the former with such ease, but the latter... I must not be a Christian. How could I be a Christian? If I could do the former with such ease, but the latter can only be done painstakingly. It says, what the flesh hates is God, so it resists anything that smacks of God, especially communion with Him. The flesh can curl up by your side and watch mindless movies all night long, but let even the barest thought of meditations flutter into your mind, and the flesh goes on red alert. Before you get past our Father in your prayers, your eyes which were glued to that screen now sag in sleepiness, and your attention, which is so fixed on the plot, now zips around the universe faster than at all." If you have a problem with the prayer line. It says, the flesh's hatred of God explains a lot. Think about worship. In its essence, worship It says, the flesh's hatred of God explains a lot. Think about worship. In its essence, worship is high communion with God. And so the flesh should cringe at the door of the sanctuary. But if a person wants to perform outward forms of worship without approaching God in his heart, the flesh won't bother with that. He may want to do his worship like a pharisee looking for brownie points. Church building makes him father with that. Or he may like that. Is it right? But he goes on to say, uh, he says this, uh, digging around the Bible to find a juicy new insight to impress your small group. But he goes on to say, uh, he says this, uh, digging around the Bible to find a juicy new insight to impress your small group. is really easy. But poring over the scriptures to find the lover of your soul is like trying to cross country ski up Mount Everest. These are really naughty thoughts he's talking about. Motivations. Why am I like that? Conjuring up a happy mood with some music you don't even know the words to is like solving a 2 plus 2 with a calculator. But savoring the glory of Christ and his tender love until your heart is softened toward him is like using mental math to calculate pi to the thousandth place. Comments on that? You ever... Motivations and why do I do things in... You can even frown and say, boy, I don't want to go into there. I don't want to think about those things, but we all know, yeah, that's down in there. So he's speaking of that's enemy enough. Listen to this, he says, giving a birthday present to your best friend for breakfast. Hard. Extra bedroom to a homeless person in the name of Jesus is like eating the Rockies for breakfast. Why is it so hard? If I were really a Christian, then these things would just all be like eating brownies for breakfast. John, any thoughts on that? John? I don't know if I speak for all of us. I think maybe I do, because it's so quiet in here, and this is painful. You know you're not! That's the point. This is the point! You're a new man in Christ if you'd be a Christian. But there is that Ahab-like hatred still smoldering inside. That helps me. I don't like to think that I would have any hatred of God in my heart. But it helps to explain some things. It helps to explain the very fact, like you said, of why it's so hard to pray for five minutes. That helps me. I don't like it, but it helps me. Because that's what I have to go after. I have to go deeper than the fact that I just don't want to get out of bed. Yeah, I was studying this last night, and I went out to my front driveway. It's a long driveway, and it's pitch dark outside. And just, Lord, why does it have to be like this? Why? Why this battle? Why? Why? And there was something in it that said, well, I'm on course. At least I'm right on course. The narrow way has battles in it. Bloody battles. Painful battles in it. Instead of thinking, well, because I'm battling, I must be way off on the broad road somewhere. There's hope there. It helps. flesh, lust, after, spirit. When I would do good, evil is right there with me, so that I don't do the good that I would do." You may say, why are we talking about sin? I don't know about you, but again, like John said, this is helpful. This is helpful stuff. Any other comments? Seth? We were playing volleyball on Friday night at Yam's and gravity has given me all kinds of problems. the time difference, the time again it takes to get there. And one of the massive problems that they're having with the idea is being in a low crack environment for that long period of time has an extreme detrimental effect on our bodies. We don't have that resistance that we have to go against constantly every single day. Our bodies start to break down. I just wonder about our spiritual life and how, if it was so easy, I don't doubt at all that we all have hatred for God in our hearts. comes out of expressions of sinfulness. But there's definitely a difference in the quality of the hatred that an unbeliever has for God and that we have for God. And Paul uses different types of language, I think, to express the same ideas. And when Pastor Annette brought up the idea of house, it made me think of 2 Corinthians 5. as an affliction for the believer. And that's really what it is. It's an affliction for the believer that is to drive us to Christ. It's to drive us to Him again and again and again. And it keeps us humble. And it keeps us from self-righteousness. But Paul says, for we know that as the earthly tent, which is our house, is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens, For indeed, in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven, inasmuch as we, having put it on, will not be found naked. For indeed, while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed, but to be clothed, so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life. always of good courage in knowing that while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord, for we walk by faith and not by sight. We are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body than to be at home in the Lord. Therefore, we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him. So we have that as our ambition while we While we're in this world, we want to be pleasing to the Lord, but we have this affliction of this remaining sin in our heart, and so we groan, and we groan, and it's a battle, it's a fight, but it's different. I think it's okay to think about the idea that within the heart of the believer there is hatred toward God, but it's different in quality. It makes us groan. It's an intruder. Yeah. the hatred that we have for God, whereas the unbelievers, they don't have that. They don't have that hatred for the hatred they have for God. They just hate it. For me, it's a battle, it's a fight, and it makes us grow, and it can even be depressing and defeating at times, but he goes on later on and he says, therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he's a new creature, The old things passed away, and behold, the new things have come. And he's the one who comes along and helps us to fight, and encourages us, and gives us hope that even though there's this battle to be overthrown, we can continue on and continue to fight. Excellent way to cap it off, Joe. He opened this chapter with a quote from Ahab. Ahab's hatred for the whale. He says, Towards thee I roll, thou all-destroying but unconquering whale. To the last I grapple with thee. From hell's heart I stab at thee. For hate's sake I spit my last breath at thee. And he ends the chapter by quoting in a changed way that statement, but he refers to how it's the Spirit of God who has that same hatred against indwelling sin. Now the Spirit of God is hunting indwelling sin, and it's going to get indwelling sin. It's going to destroy it. And he says this, "...towards thee." The Holy Spirit of God, as it were, says, "...because the flesh lusts after the Spirit, the Spirit after the flesh." Towards Thee I roll, Thou all-destroying but unconquering flesh. To the last I grapple with Thee. From heaven's heart I stab at Thee. For love's sake I spit my last breath at Thee." And to know that the Holy Spirit is hunting down, is hunting down, That indwelling sin gives us great hope that the battle is not ours. Ultimately, the battle is the Lord, greater who is in us than he who is in the world. Our time is gone. The hope, just in looking these two weeks at this theme of indwelling sin, I hope that, one, it gives a realistic picture of the Christian life. And in that, there's hope. And it drives us to the Lord Jesus Christ. And there we find peace and help in Him. Bob, could you close us? Father in Heaven, we bless you. Peace and help in Him.